Friday, October 21, 2005

WILL WE NEVER LEARN?

A man on Lagoa dos Reis paddles across a blanket of dead and dying fish. Photograph: Marcio Silva/APSo, it's been discovered, again, that theAmazon Rainforest is disappearing at twice the rate as was previously thought. Six thousand square miles of forest lost every year and a 25% increase in greenhouse gasses caused by festering vegetation left behind. As for the effect on wildlife, the photo says far more than I ever could, it's pretty obscene isn't it?

It must be nearly 20 years ago that Sting appeared on television with Terry Wogan and a bemused looking Amazonian Tribal Chief. A huge publicity campaign ensued, highlighting the plight of native Amazonian tribes and the effects of deforestation on their way of life and the surrounding environment. Not to mention the knock on effect to the rest of the world as the "lungs" of the planet are slowly excised at an alarming rate. Where did all that hoo hah go, and what good did it do?

Perhaps the lures of Tantric Sex (whatever that may be) became too much to resist for Mr. Sting.

The world is in a panic over the imminent arrival of a bird flu pandemic.

The planet already suffers from a destructive pandemic - it's called the Human Race.

What's really lovely about all of this is the letter I recently received from the Sierra Club informing me that U.S. congress is about to pass a bill basically rejecting all our previous laws protecting endangered species & their habitat. Isn't that cute? *sarcasm*